Planes that Mimic Birds
Aerospace vehicles are currently designed for specific missions, such as space flight, reconnaissance, interdiction and aerial combat. A vehicle designed for one mission will typically have serious constraints for executing other missions. Researchers have been looking at ways to design multi-mission capable vehicles.
The solution of variable sweep wings is an example of a preliminary solution to the problem. The wings change shape to meet changing requirements, trying to mimic birds in flight. However, the existing solution is only a primitive one compared to the birds’ solution.
Things might change dramatically with the new morphing metal technology. Nanotechnology can theoretically work at molecular levels and change the properties of the building blocks of materials. Doing this “on-the-go”, adapting to changes in pressure or temperature for example, can make the materials almost “living materials.”
Wings made of such materials could then unfurl, bend and shape themselves to changing demands, just as bird wings do in flight. Such wings will be able to avoid aerodynamic destabilization caused by varying flight conditions.
Once such morphing technology has been mastered, it will be possible to design air vehicles that can be used for multiple roles, say from passenger or cargo carriage to aerial warfare.
Read the speculative report at Center for Intelligence News Study.
Tags: air vehicles, changing material properties, nanotechnology
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